• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

Best Airline Rewards Credit Cards

Still love it. I have the Barclay premier us airways MasterCard.... Not a fan. REI visa is great for in-store purchases, but the CSP is my #1 for customer service, points, ease of use, benefits, and website ease of use.
 
So you all have been able to get at least one free flight since you signed up?
 
So you all have been able to get at least one free flight since you signed up?

Yes - several free flights and hotel rooms. I have had the card since early 2012, though, and I put every possible expense on it.

I'm guessing you can get a free flight from the signing bonus.
 
I'm on my second CSP card now. I had the MasterCard version you can't get anymore, cancelled it, then signed up for the Visa version so I netted 80,000 points for both signup bonuses. I had the Barclay Arrival+ which is pretty good giving 2% back on everything that you can redeem for travel expenses and you get $400 for signing up, I just cancelled mine though because the $90 fee was due. I also have their USAirways card that I only signed up for for 35,000 free miles, I never use it except for USAirways flights and when they offered 15,000 free miles for spending $750 for three consecutive months. It has also come in handy for free checked bags a couple of times and earlier boarding, apparently its easy to get the fee waived on it, but otherwise I'll probably cancel it in December when it renews. I just now got approved for the American Airlines card to get 50,000 free miles that I can eventually merge with my USAirways miles. So far I have a pretty nice cache of miles saved up between programs, being able to pay my rent without any additional fee has been clutch for getting lots of free miles.
 
So you all have been able to get at least one free flight since you signed up?

Yep, and about to make another happen. The 40k sign up bonus is at least one domestic flight's worth of points.
 
I'm on my second CSP card now. I had the MasterCard version you can't get anymore, cancelled it, then signed up for the Visa version so I netted 80,000 points for both signup bonuses. I had the Barclay Arrival+ which is pretty good giving 2% back on everything that you can redeem for travel expenses and you get $400 for signing up, I just cancelled mine though because the $90 fee was due. I also have their USAirways card that I only signed up for for 35,000 free miles, I never use it except for USAirways flights and when they offered 15,000 free miles for spending $750 for three consecutive months. It has also come in handy for free checked bags a couple of times and earlier boarding, apparently its easy to get the fee waived on it, but otherwise I'll probably cancel it in December when it renews. I just now got approved for the American Airlines card to get 50,000 free miles that I can eventually merge with my USAirways miles. So far I have a pretty nice cache of miles saved up between programs, being able to pay my rent without any additional fee has been clutch for getting lots of free miles.

Doesn't cancelling cards negatively impact your credit score?
 
Doesn't cancelling cards negatively impact your credit score?

Yes. One component of your credit score is your credit utilization rate.

So if you have 2 credit cards each with a 10K limit. And have a $5K balance your utilization rate is 25% but if you cancel one of those cards it jumps to 50%.
 
I have stuck with my Delta AmEx, but I upgraded to the Reserve over the Platinum because the 15,000 MQMs when you hit $30,000 pretty much guarantees I will maintain at least Gold Medallion status with Delta every year. But I didn't have a Visa or MasterCard (other than my check card and a very old one with a very low credit limit, no rewards and no annual fee that I have had since college, but never ever use - don't even think I actually have the card anywhere accessible), and every now and then you run into places not taking AmEx. So I got the BankAmericard Travel Rewards card - signup bonus was only 10,000 points, but ongoing it is 1.5 points per dollar, but if you have a certain level total relationship with BoA and/or Merrill Lynch, you get a 75% bonus on all points earned, so it works out to 2.625 points per dollar on all purchases for me. It works basically like the Capital One Venture card - just wipe away any travel expenses on your bill with points. My plan is to make sure I spend the $30,000 on the AmEx, then almost everything other than Delta purchases will go on the Visa.
 
so i'm going to be getting a new credit card for a home remodel to separate the costs out. i'm not interested in a lowe's or HD card, but i was thinking of an airline one to help with status. doesn anyone know how it works if you have 2 names on one rewards card? like are the miles split evenly or can they only go to one? i have a c1 venture for everyday use which is great for buying travel, but it doesn't help on status at all. so i'm looking to get a specific airline to boost my status. any help would be appreciated.
 
so i'm going to be getting a new credit card for a home remodel to separate the costs out. i'm not interested in a lowe's or HD card, but i was thinking of an airline one to help with status. doesn anyone know how it works if you have 2 names on one rewards card? like are the miles split evenly or can they only go to one? i have a c1 venture for everyday use which is great for buying travel, but it doesn't help on status at all. so i'm looking to get a specific airline to boost my status. any help would be appreciated.

1 credit account = 1 mileage account. Any spending by you or your authorized users will go into one account.

And credit card miles usually don't go towards status. You have to fly to get status. Credit card miles will just allow you to get free flights.

Generally, unless you are flying enough to get status, or spending a shit ton of money, specific-airline mileage earning cards are not the best choice. Get a cash back card or a general travel card.
 
If you fly to NC/ east coast a lot, the barclaycard US Airways master card is pretty good. otherwise, chase sapphire preferred.
 
Last edited:
word. good to know. i've been horrible about getting all my airline ff accounts together with all the mergers and ish, and hopefully i'm travelling for work less now. i guess i'll enjoy my coach seat in the back.
 
so i'm going to be getting a new credit card for a home remodel to separate the costs out. i'm not interested in a lowe's or HD card, but i was thinking of an airline one to help with status. doesn anyone know how it works if you have 2 names on one rewards card? like are the miles split evenly or can they only go to one? i have a c1 venture for everyday use which is great for buying travel, but it doesn't help on status at all. so i'm looking to get a specific airline to boost my status. any help would be appreciated.

You might know this, but most airline credit cards don't help at all w/ status (but do give you some of the benefits of status, primarily priority access). You will have to generally go to one of the ~$400/500 annual fee cards, such as the American Airlines World Elite, and then spend a substantial amount of money to get a fairly limited qualifying point bump (on the AA card, $40k of spend gets you 10k EQM, out of the 25k required to get the lowest level of status).

I generally value airline miles more than general travel miles, but it isn't going to make a huge difference to get you to status.
 
so i'm going to be getting a new credit card for a home remodel to separate the costs out. i'm not interested in a lowe's or HD card, but i was thinking of an airline one to help with status. doesn anyone know how it works if you have 2 names on one rewards card? like are the miles split evenly or can they only go to one? i have a c1 venture for everyday use which is great for buying travel, but it doesn't help on status at all. so i'm looking to get a specific airline to boost my status. any help would be appreciated.

Like others have said, most cards don't help with status, but if you are going to spend a fair amount on the remodel, Delta is an option for you and you really care about status, the Delta AmEx Platinum or Reserve cards do get you bonus MQMs depending on spending. On the platinum, if you spend $25,000, you get 10,000 MQMs and if you hit $50,000, you get another 10,000 MQMs. On the reserve if you spend $30,000 you get 15,000 MQMs and if you hit $60,000 you get another 15,000 MQMs. The reserve also gives you SkyClub access. The annual fee is like $450 for the reserve and ~$150 (it may have gone up since I moved to the reserve) for the platinum.
 
Recently needed a travel credit card to keep business and personal expenses separated. Went with Capital One Venture. believe I had to spend 3000 in the first 3 months or something to receive 25,000 points. received my 25,000 points and was able to fly on that, although I had to shop for cheap air. Pretty painless too. I can just purchase my plane ticket with that card, then sign on Capitalone.com and it sees I purchased travel and asks if I'd like to credit my card with available points.
 
I like my DoubleCash card, but I'm shopping around now to see if I could earn more in frequent flyer miles than straight cash homey. Crunching the numbers between CSP (now you have to spend 4K in the first 3 months instead of 3K), the Capital One Venture Rewards, and the Barclays Arrival Plus.
 
It's pretty lame that the platinum Amex doesn't get you into nearly as many airport lounges anymore
 
Has anyone done some comparisons between flights/hotels booked through the Chase UR website compared to places like Travelocity, Expedia, etc? I'm curious whether Chase bumps up their prices on their site which would wipe away the 20% discount they offer for booking through them.
 
Has anyone done some comparisons between flights/hotels booked through the Chase UR website compared to places like Travelocity, Expedia, etc? I'm curious whether Chase bumps up their prices on their site which would wipe away the 20% discount they offer for booking through them.

I double-check all other sites any time I book with them.
Their prices are the same.
 
Back
Top